


The Returning Ghosts of the Past

by writerkat



Category: Catherine (Video Game)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentions of Past Affairs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 06:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17893637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerkat/pseuds/writerkat
Summary: Todd was furious when he learned what Archie's past really consisted of. And when it finally comes for him, Todd is ready to stand against it to protect his friend.





	The Returning Ghosts of the Past

A heavy pounding on his front door wasn't exactly what Todd Bozeman would have called welcome in the middle of trying to fall asleep. But whoever it was certainly didn't seem to care about the hour it was, or the fact that any decent human being would need to rest. His wife, awake next to him and reading by the light of a small clip on her book, was clearly perturbed.

“Who could that be at this hour?” she asked aloud.

“Dunno. Don't care. Let em knock themselves out,” Todd muttered. “Maybe some drunk got the wrong house and he'll go away.”

“Maybe...” The pounding on the door continued, not letting up in either intensity or frequency. If anything, it seemed to be getting louder. At last, his wife sighed and clapped her book shut, getting up from the bed.

“Babe, do you know how late it is?” he muttered as he groggily sat up. “Don't go answering the door at this hour. I'll-”

“No, it's fine,” she replied. “I'm just going to see who it is and tell them to go away. If they don't, I'm calling the police.” She dropped her feet over the edge of the bed, shoving them into her slippers and grabbing her phone off the bedside table.

“Well fine, then. Holler if it's a murderer or something.” She laughed wryly over her shoulder and stalked out of the bedroom, leaving him sitting in bed. Given how strange it was that someone was even at the door in the first place, and his wife had just gone to deal with it. He sat himself up against the headboard, straining his ears just in case anything happened so he could go running.

Not long after she left, the banging stopped, and he relaxed, thinking she had taken care of it. But when several minutes passed and he still heard and saw no trace of her, he felt a worried sort of knot form in his stomach. Just as he was thinking of going down to check on everything, he heard the sound of hurried slippered feet whisking across carpet. Until at last, his wife reappeared at the door to their bedroom. Upon seeing the worried expression on her face, he stood up immediately.

“What's wrong? Did something-”

“Honey... I think you need to come to the living room,” she said, voice hushed to barely above a whisper. “It was... It's Archie.” Archie? The pure confusion must have shown on his face, because she only made her own expression more firm and serious. “You should probably see for yourself.” Well, now he was fully awake. Pushing himself off the bed, he followed her down the hall and to their living room. Where he found his oh so familiar junior co-worker and friend, planted firmly on their couch with his face in his hands, trembling harder than a tiny ladybug in a hurricane.

“Hey.” He winced at the gruff tone of his voice, only confirmed by the look his wife shot him, and he cleared his throat before trying for a softer tone. “Hey. Archie... buddy. What's wrong?” Carefully, he made his way to the couch, sliding into the seat next to him. He was an absolute mess, looking at him up close. His shirt and tie were messed up six ways from Sunday, and the back of his neck and spots on his shirt were absolutely soaked through with a cold, clammy sweat.

Vaguely, he could hear his wife's slippers retreating from the room once he sat down. Maybe it was still a bit awkward for her, seeing her husband so buddy buddy with the guy she had been having an affair with for so long. He didn't blame her.

“Archie. Take a breath, man. It's just me.” He tried to pat him on the back, just as he usually did, but unlike all the other times, even when Archie thought him most annoying, he could feel the younger man flinch away so quickly it almost seemed for a moment he was about to lurch right off the couch. He almost made a move to catch him, but Archie recovered on his own in the end, shakily sitting straight so his back was against the couch, putting his head back as his chest deliberately slowed from its fevered pace down to a much more manageable and comforting rhythm. Though the trembling itself had yet to leave him. “See, that's it, man. Just breathe.” He gingerly reached out and patted his shoulder, thankfully without the violent reaction to the touch. “Now, you going to tell me why you were pounding at my door at this time of night, looking like the devil was on your heels?”

“It is. In a way,” Archie managed to gasp. Todd felt his brow furrow in confusion as he tried to parse that cryptic statement. But Archie didn't let him wallow in the feeling of being lost for long. “I went home, after the Stray Sheep.”

“Yeah, I remember the Stray Sheep,” he replied slowly. Just some after work drinking between co-workers. Todd himself had left early because he and his wife had planned on dinner. Archie had said he would stay behind and take a cab back home.

“I went home, like I said. I got to my building, was going back to my place, but...” Archie shuddered again, and for a minute Todd thought he was going to start hyperventilating again. But instead, all Archie did was choke out, with almost painful deliberateness, “It was... _her_. Sh-she.... she _found_ me.” All at once, Todd felt a heavy weight drop into his stomach. 'She'. No... no it couldn't possibly have been. That was all the stuff of nightmares now. Archie got past all of that, back in the tower. All those dreams and nightmares of that woman chasing after him. “I don't know how she found me, Todd. I was so careful. I'm so far from where I grew up, I changed places so much. I don't know how she tracked me down. I don't know how long she's known. I don't know how Mother-!”

“Hey! Hey!” He squeezed Todd's shoulder, making him snap his head around to look at him. “Look at me. She's not here. Not now. You can have a breath. Now, you're going to breathe with me, okay? Just like before those meetings.” God this was nostalgic. Like back when he was coaching him through a first meeting. Though he had hardly been this much of a nervous wreck back when they first met. Or well, he'd always been a nervous wreck, he guessed. But much more of a sullen type. Quiet and kind of skittish, like a rabbit. Not veering on the razor edge of a full on breakdown.

Still, Archie followed his instructions. Taking deep breaths, then letting them out. Until eventually the jitters managed to subside, and he seemed decently out of the neighborhood of hyperventilation. From just out of his periphery, his wife reappeared. With a glass of water and a concerned expression on her face. God he was more and more glad every day that they'd patched up their marriage. She really was a good woman. He let Archie take the glass and have a few sips, his wife retreating to a chair nearby and perching herself on it.

“Now, Archie,” he began once the water was half gone. “Where did you see her? Do you know if she saw you?” Archie swallowed his last mouthful of water hard, staring down at the glass.

“It was... at my building. I got out of the cab, went into the lobby. I just stepped inside the door, was going down the hall. Then... I saw her. Near the elevator. I don't know how she got in the building, need a code for it. But... it was her. I'd never be able to forget her.” He shuddered, but a calming squeeze from Todd kept him grounded enough to continue. I just panicked and ran back out, I thought I might have heard her say my name, but I wasn't sure. I was just trying to get out of there. But the cab was gone already, so... I just ran. I think I might've tried to call at one point, before I got here. But... my phone died.”

“Why I always tell you to keep it charged, dumbass.” He heard a muffled snort come from Archie, a comforting noise in that it wasn't more pitiful panic noises. “Look, Arch. It's late, eh? We're all tired, you look like you're about to keel over... Tell you what. You can shack up in the spare room tonight. We can figure out what to do about all this in the morning, alright? But only once you don't look like you're about to collapse.” Archie gave him a nervous look, clearly unsure, but after a while, he finally nodded, curling his arms around himself.

“Y-yeah... I guess that would work.” Todd smiled at him, clapping him twice on the shoulder.

“Atta boy. Come on. Let's get you set up.

 


End file.
